Picture Connecticut: A Storied Hoop Arena

NEW HAVEN, CT — To get us going for the 2024-25 college basketball season, let make a stop at one of the truly classic venues in the sport — Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

The basketball venue is officially called the John J. Lee Amphitheater and it has a capacity of 2,532.

According to Yale Athletics it was constructed in 1931 and is part of the a nine-and-a -half story building that houses "one of the most complete units of indoor athletic facilities in the world."

The building was given to the University by the Whitney family in memory of Payne Whitney from the Class of 1898.

The first basketball game there was played there on Dec. 2, 1932, with Yale defeating an alumni team, 38-16.

In 1996, Yale named the venue in honor of alumnus John Lee (Class of 1958), who set a number of Yale records in basketball and helped lead the Bulldogs to the first official Ivy League championship.

Recent upgrades to the historic arena include state-of-the-art lighting and a video scorer's table.

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Picture Connecticut is a weekly series that features images of the state, past and present. Here are past images:

2024

• Daily Train Crossing, Windsor
• The Civil War Train Monument, Vernon
• A Spooky Sculpture, Tolland
• Whalers gear ... in Carolina, Cary, NC
• The Hurricane of 1938 (Part 2), Mystic, Stonington
• The Hurricane of 1938 (Part 1), New London
• Firefighters Memorial Garden, Manchester
• Eagleville, Mansfield
• Island Beach Ferry, Greenwich
• High School Sports Booster Car Washes, anywhere in CT
• The Lyman Orchards Maze, Middlefield
• A bucket of FC, Vernon

• The Bug Mailbox, Ellington-Somers
• All Faiths Gather At Town Park, Vernon
• Riverside Igloos, Milford
• The TPC Pro Shop, Cromwell
• The Santa House, North Pole, er, Northern Connecticut
• Mile 4 Funnel, Manchester Road Race, Manchester
• UConn Lacrosse Giving Back, Connecticut River Valley
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 3, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 2, Hartford
• The Capitol Grounds Tour, Part 1, Hartford
• The Doughboy, East Hartford
• The Walt Whitman Stone, West Hartford
• The indoor bush plane, Hartford County
• The Big Pink Chair, Ellington
• The Notch, Granby
• The CT 9/11 Monument, Westport
• Vintage Gas Pump, Somers
• Tobacco Harvest, East Windsor
• Late Afternoon, Lakeside, Coventry
• Fogarea, New Haven County
• Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens, Washington Depot
• Connecticut River Police Boat, Rocky Hill
• The first dentist, Windsor
• The Frog Bridge, Willimantic
• The World War Bridge Rapids, Putnam
• The Peeking Cow, Tolland County
• The Ivy Lacrosse Tournament, New Canaan
• The Bradley International Airport runway, Windsor Locks
• The Underground Railroad, Unionville
• The cow carousel, Ellington
• Charles Island, Milford
• State Veterans Cemetery, Middletown
• Glastonbury-Rocky Hill Ferry, Glastonbury/Rocky Hill
• The Old County Jailhouse, Tolland
• Agent Orange Monument, Andover
• The Sunken Garden, Farmington
• Lafayette Tour Monument, Vernon
• The Pinchot Sycamore, Simsbury
• Bob's Discount Furniture Studios, Manchester